Watch band hinge hook trimmer



WATCH BAND HINGE HOOK TRIMMER Filed April 10, 1953 FIG. 6

iliuililil JNVENTOR: H68 H 26 GUNNAg D. GUSTAFSON ATT'YS United States Patent Ofiice 2,726,923 Patented Oct. 18, 1955 WATCH BAND HINGE HOOK TRIMMER Gunnar David Gustafson, Chicago, 111.

Application April 10, 1953, Serial No. 347,987

Claims. (Cl. 16444) This invention relates to devices for shearing tubular articles to length, and has particular reference to devices for trimming the edges of the terminal hinge hooks of a wrist band to fit accurately the space between the hinge ears of a wrist Watch.

Wrist watches are usually made with spaced ears at opposite sides thereof, to receive hinge pins for attaching the hooked ends of the wrist band to the watch. Different manufacturers of watches have different standards for spacing such ears, and where wrist bands are to be sold to fit watches of any manufacture, it is usual to make the hooked or tubular ends of the wrist bands of sufficient width to permit their edges to be trimmed to narrower dimensions as may be required.

The main objects of the present invention are to provide an improved form of cutter for shearing off excess metal from the sides of the hinge hooks of a wrist band; to provide improved means for gaging the amount of material to be removed at each cutting operation and for equalizing the removal of material from both sides of the hinge hook; to provide an improved construction for a shearing device of this kind which can be firmly attached to a table, bench or other supporting surface which has a multiplicity of shearing dies, and which is so arranged that any of such dies can be readily brought to a position most convenient for the operators performance of the cutting operation.

A specific embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspecive view of a wrist band trimming shear constructed according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation mostly in vertical section on the plane of the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail illustrating various shapes of the bores or sockets in the cutting die.

Figs. 5 to 8 inclusive are partial side elevations illustrative of successive steps in the operation of the device for equal trimming of the opposite edges of the hinge hook elements of the wrist band.

In the form shown, the apparatus comprises a base member 10 which may be screwed to a bench, and which has a broad base flange 11, and contains a vertical bore 12 to hold the post 13, which carries at its upper end a die plate 14. This plate 14 has a level planar top surface 15 extending beyond the post at all sides and has an annular series of vertical bores 16 in the marginal portions thereof. The die plate 14 has an upstanding cylindrical hub portion 17 that serves as a bearing for the cutter body 18, which has a handle 19 and carries a cutting blade 20 that has shearing edges 21 at both sides so that it can perform the shearing operation in either direction of rotation of the handle 19 as may be desired for right or left hand operation. The cutter body 18 is held in shearing contact with the surface 15 of the cutter die 14 by means of a cap 22, that is held on the hub 17 by the screw 23. The cutting die 14 is secured against rotation on the post by means of dowels 24 which enables the cutting die to be readily removed from the post in case this is desirable for grinding its cutting edges.

The bores 16 may be of various shapes in transverse contour to cut different forms of hinge hooks that might be found on different makes of wrist bands. These bores are usually cylindrical and spaced inward from the sides of the die plate and each has a longitudinal slot 25 extending outwardly from the bore to the periphery of the die plate 14. Each bore 16 has a mandrel 26 mounted concentrically of the bore with its upper end flush with the surface 15 of the die plate 14. The mandrels 26 are spaced from the walls of the bore a suificient distance to slidably accommodate the tubular article that is to be sheared by the cutters 21 and the slot 25 is of a corresponding width so that the shearing operation will cut the tubular part and the adjacent strap portion of the hook Without any deformation. In some bores the slot is radial and in others it is tangential to the bore. The mandrels 26 are rigidly fastened to a fixed collar 27 on the cylindrical upper end 28 of the post 13, the diameter of the collar being such as to allow plenty of clearance between the mandrels 26 and the part 28 of the post.

A gage member or ring 29 is slidably mounted on the part 28 and is also appropriately bored to slidably fit each of the mandrels 26. The ring 29 is attached to a series of rods 30, each of which is slidable in a bore in the flange 27 and has a head 31, at its lower end for supporting a compression spring 32 that bears between the head 31 and the collar 27, so as to normally urge the gage ring 29 away from the die plate 14 toward the collar 27.

A knurled collar 33 meshes with a threaded part 34 of the post 13, and has a smooth upper surface that abuts against the heads 31 of the rods 30, and thus controls the elevation of the ring 29. The collar 33 has a beveled upper corner surface 35 provided with graduations 36 for micrometric adjustment of the ring 29.

The die plate 14 and the gage ring 29 are provided with vertically aligned lugs 36 and 37 respectively, which serve as inside caliper elements for convenience in adjusting the collar 29 with respect to the cutting surface of the die plate 14, as will be understood from Fig. 5. The top surface of the lug 36 and the bottom surface of the lug 37 are spaced apart exactly equal to the spacing between the top surface of the ring 29 and the top surface of the die plate 14.

The die plate 14 has the desired number of die bores to cut the various shapes of hinge hooks for which the device is designed to operate. In Fig. 4, two types of bore are shown, the bore 16 being of a form in which the plate portion of the wrist band link is radial to the axis of the hook portion, whereas the bores 16.1 and 16.2 are right and left forms for use where the plate portion of the hinge link is tangent to the hook portion.

The lower end of the post 13 has slots 38 and 39 extending diametrically across the ends of the post at right angles to each other for engagement with the pin 4! which extends radially into the bore in the base fitting 10. Thus the post 13 can be lifted clear of the pin 40 and rotated to bring any desired ones of the bores 16 into convenient position for use for either right or left hand operation of the lever 19 by the operator.

In operation the watch 41, that is to be fitted with the wrist band, is held so that the link ears 42 at one side thereof, as shown in Fig. 5, are brought into position for engagement with the caliper lugs 36 and 37 at one side of the cutting instrument, and the gage ring 29 is adjusted by rotating the knurled nut 33 until the caliper lugs fit between the ears 42 on the watch. The watch is now removed and the hinge hook 43 of the wrist band 44 is then slid into the matching die bore 16 until it comes to rest on the gage ring 29 as shown in Fig. 6.

The excess in width of the hinge hook 43 for the particu-t lar watch in question, will now be shown as the amount to which the metal of the watch band hook 43 projects above the top surface of the die plate 14. The operator then rotates the nut 33 in a clockwise direction, lowering the ring 29 until the hinge hook 43 is flush with the surface 15. During this operation the operator counts the number of graduations 36 that pass a given point to bring the hinge hook 43 flush with the top surface 15 of the plate 14, as shown in Fig. 7. Say for example, that during this clockwise rotation, ten graduations pass the given point. Then the operator turns the nut 33 in a counterclockwise direction for a distance of five graduaa tions, being halfof the ten graduations of the aforesaid clockwise rotation. This causes the member 43 to project above the shearing surface 15 a distance equal to onehalf of its excessive width, as shown in Fig. 8. Then the operator rotates the handle 19 to cause the cutter blade to shear off this portion of the wrist band link. If the hinge hook is of such form as to fit the die bore with radial slot as shown at 16 in Fig. 4, the operator merely turns the wrist band so as to bring the opposite side of the hook upward and slip it into the same die bore 16.: If, however, the plate portion of the hinge hook is tangent to the hook portion, then the operator utilizes a mating pair of bores, such as are shown at 16.1 and 16.2 of Fig. 4, for the respective trimming of the two sides of the wrist band plate.

An advantage of having matching pairs of bores in the die plate is that both ends of the wrist band. can, be i111 serted into. mated bores and trimmed simultaneously.

Although but one specific embochment of this invention is herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A watch band hinge hook trimmer, comprising a shearing die plate having a planar cutting face with a bore normal to said face, said bore having a transverse sectional contour like thatof the hinge hook to be cut, a mandrel in said bore spaced from the walls of the bore and terminating flush with said cutter face, a shearing cutter movable on said cutting face of said die plate acrosssaid bore, a gage member below said die plate being adjustable along said mandrel toward and away from said die plate and having an upper face parallel with the cutting face of the die plate, and a pair of coacting insidecaliper elements extending laterally from said die plate and. gage member respectively to indicate the spacing of said gage member from said cutting face, the caliper element on said die. plate having an upper face coplanar with the cut:- ting face and the caliper element on said gage member having a. lower face coplanar with the upper abutment face of the. gage. member.

2. A device of the class described comprising a post, a die plate fixed on said post and having a cutting face at right angles to the axis of said post, a plurality of die bores. in said, die plate having axes parallel with the axis of said post, a cutter blade mounted on said die plate and movable across, said bores, a mandrel in each of said bores. terminating flush with said die. plate cutting face and extending along and secured to said post, a. gage member slidable, along said post toward and away from said cutting face and having an abutment surface extending across all said mandrels in parallel relation, to said cutting face, an, adjusting nut threaded, on said post, means. acting between said gage member and nut. and adapted to. shift said gage member toward and, away from. said cutting face, and micrometric indicia on said nut to gage the movement of said gage member.

3. A device of the class described, comprising a base, a post extending upward therefrom, a die plate fixed at the top of said post and having a cutting face at right angles to the axis of said post and having marginal portions extending beyond the sides of said post, a plurality of die bores in said marginal portions having axes parallel with the axis of said post and spaced from the sides of said post, a cutter blade pivoted on said post in shearing relation to said die plates cutting face, mandrels in said die bores having their upper ends flush with said cutting face, a flange on said post below said die plate to which the lower ends of said mandrels are fixed, a gage member slidably mounted on said post between said flange and said die plate and having an abutment surface extending across said mandrels adapted to serve as a limit stop for articles that may be slid through said die bores along said mandrels, said post having a threaded portion, a nut on said threaded portion, and means acting between said gage member and nutfor shifting said gage collar through rotation of said nut. V

4. A device of the class described, comprising a base, a post extending upward therefrom, a die plate fixedat the top of said post and having a cutting face at right angles to the axis of said post and having marginal portions extending beyond the sides of said post, a plurality of die bores in said marginal portions having axes parallel with the axis of said post and spaced from the sides of said post, a cutter blade pivoted on said post in shearing relation to said die plates cutting face, mandrels in said die bores having their upper ends flush with said cutting face, a flange on said post below said die plate to which the lower ends of said mandrels are fixed, a gage member slidably mounted on said post between said flange and said die plate and having an abutment surface extending across said mandrels adapted to serve as a limit stop for articles that may be slid through said die bores along said mandrels, a plurality of studs on said gage member extending slidably through said flange, compression spring means acting between said studs and flange to urge said gage member away from said die plate, said post having a threaded portion, a nut on said threaded portion bearing against said studs for adjusting the position of said gage member.

5. A watch band hinge hook trimmer, comprising a shearing die plate having a planar cutting face with a bore normal to said face, said bore having a transverse sectional contour like that of the hinge hook to be cut, a mandrel in said bore spaced from the walls of the bore and terminating flush with said cutter face, a shearing cutter movable on said cutting face of said die plate across said bore, a gage member below said die plate being adjustable along said mandrel toward and away from said die plate and having an upper face parallel with the cutting face of the die plate, and a pair of coacting inside caliper elements extending laterally from and fixed on said die plate and gage member, respectively, the caliper ele ment on said die plate facing upward and the caliper element on said gage member facing downward in position to indicate the spacing of said gage member from said cutting face. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 740,492 Weeder Oct. 6, 19.03 1,216,426 Erickson Feb. 20, 1917 1,913,291 Rountree et a1. June 6,- 1933 2,391,637 MCEW n Dec-.25. 1.94.5

FOREIGN PATENTS 855,563 France Feb. 19, 1940 

